In my neighborhood, old things are from the 1960s. Anything more ancient than that has likely been abandoned, bulldozed, and built over. I’ve squinted over Kansas prairies to view the shallow depressions left by pioneer wagon trains. I’ve wandered New England cemeteries to find the oldest graves. I have roamed the back corners of the Badlands,…

A guy’s gotta eat. I don’t mind traveling alone. In fact it often leads to interesting situations that wouldn’t happen if you were with a travel buddy. But every once in a while you wind up feeling like the weirdo by yourself in a restaurant while everybody else is hanging with their friends. On my…

How many photos of cobblestones can you take? Maybe just one more. In Cuba I was enamored with the cars. I couldn’t get enough of them, and when I thought maybe I had reached my fill, another beauty came around the corner. I don’t even like cars. When my son was 12, his friend could…

When I photograph nature, I like to stay close to it. If I wanted all the comforts of home, I would stay there. So when I had the choice to sleep in a big ol’ fancy lodge in Gamboa, Panama, or Mateo’s humble little B&B, it was an easy choice. Not to mention, I spent…

not a lot of extra room in the locks

big ol’ beefy tugs help steer the big ships toward the locks

fees for passage are partially determined by water displacement, so the ships all empty their ballast before passing through

large crowds gather to watch ships pass through the locks

towing locomotives actually pull ships through the locks

crews are currently widening the canal passage at Gamboa

cargo container ships

Panama built a new bridge over the canal a decade ago

if it were me, I’d feel a little intimidated

crew changing boat after delivering new sailors at Gamboa

gates open to let a ship pass through to the next stage at the Miraflores locks complex

How’s your history? Here’s what I understand about the Panama Canal… Sometime in the early 1900s the US wanted to connect its Atlantic and Pacific fleets. At the time, Panama was a part of Columbia. So we asked them if we could dig a canal. They said no. We said “Pretty please?” and they said…

This was round 1 of packing for this trip…it got thinned out a bit to save on baggage fees

2 lights…an Einstein and an Alienbee, plus battery to power them, cords, remotes, and reflector

Just a closer look at the gear that comes along on a travel shoot. More info is in the captions…just click on each image. This is why I like to drive places. I made one last pass and thinned out a bit before the flight…but this is the gist of it.

Y’all remember I was supposed to go to Ghana last December? It was for a Minnesota college. I was going to photograph a student travel and study program there, but it was cancelled due to uncertainty about the Ebola situation in West Africa. So there was an unused ticket. Sitting in my desk drawer. Taunting…

Life is…of course…about the journey. But sometimes life is about ticking off the friggin’ miles….driving fast over the flat and boring stuff and getting to the end goal with a few extra minutes to spare. Then again…when your travel buddy (who will go by the fictitious initials of KP) is not a fan of the…

Dear Branson, I’m sorry I said some snarky things last week. I was going through a rough patch…you see…I had just returned from a few days in…ummm…Branson. Oh dear…that didn’t come out right…I’m doing it again… What I meant to say is that when I left Minnesota, spring was making a reluctant appearance. The snow…

I just came back from Branson. Missouri. Say it with your teeth gently clenched and just barely move your lips. “Muh-Zuhr-Uh. It’s fun. The list of places I don’t want to go on this earth is very short, but Branson has always placed high on it. My daughter’s show choir was scheduled to perform there…